Metalworking Business Links

The Web contains a wealth of information that could be helpful for developing your shop or plant, provided that you know where to look. Check out some of the following machining business sites.

Columns: 2/1/2006

Allan (A.J.) Sweatt

Web Editor

The Web contains a wealth of information that could be helpful for developing your shop or plant, provided that you know where to look. Check out some of the following machining business sites.

Business Industrial Network (www.bin95.com)—The BIN is a suite of services (some commercial) and information about technical, machining-related topics including Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) and PLC network diagnostics, preventative maintenance and others. Its “articles” section contains useful information ranging from more PLC data to tips on getting started with your own Web site. The resource section is substantial and thorough. This is one of those sites that’s worth just diving into and playing “what does this do?” until your mouse breaks.

Download Community (www.download-com.com)—We’re not sure how or why this site provides free downloads of software and files for several manufacturing categories . . . but the fact is that it does. It does a fine job of providing access to solutions for plant control, file translation, facilities management, maintenance, downtime measurement and prevention, and much more. Did we mention that it’s free? This site is definitely worth a visit.

Downtime Central (www.downtimecentral.com)—A part of the Business Industrial Network, Downtime Central is a business site. We don’t normally include business sites in our links repository unless there are good reasons for doing so, and this site provides plenty of them. If you’re looking for help determining the actual costs of downtime resulting from several factors; eliminating equipment downtime; measuring all sorts of manufacturing behaviors (overhead, scrap, tooling, personnel and so on); or even learning why improving your own equipment maintenance program is important, then this site offers an amazing level of quality information. Just select “true downtime cost” in the left navigation bar, get a cup of coffee and relax. You’ll be there for a while.

For more links to metalworking and manufacturing sites, visit MMS Online’s Web Links repository at mmsonline.com/weblinks.